Amazon worker bracelets never - Calenda (3)

Only ones we made here are jewelry says industry minister

(ANSA) - Rome, February 2 - Industry Minister Carlo Calenda
on Friday ruled out the prospect of worker bracelets being used
in Italy after reports Amazon was planning to bring them in to
keep tabs on warehouse staff and optimise their performance,
sparking a huge furore.
"I told them that the only bracelets we made in this country
are the ones our jewellers produce," Calenda said after meeting
a delegation from the online retail giant.
"I explained to them, and they understood, that a thing like
this, which has been patented in Italy, will never happen".
Premier Paolo Gentiloni and European Parliament President
Antonio Tajani are among those to have expressed concern about
the worker-bracelet hypothesis.
Free and Equal (LeU) leader Pietro Grasso called the idea
"like something out of science fiction" and said "it must never
be allowed here".
The mooted bracelet would be against Italian and European
privacy norms, privacy watchdog chief Antonello Soro said.
"In this case it would seem that the digital economy giants
are already thinking of robotising man: it is a wrong direction
because there can be no progress or innovation that is not based
on man."
Amazon's Italian workers are already up in arms about
conditions and struck on Black Friday.